The blessedness of the righteous discoursed from Psal. 17, 15 /The blessednesse of the righteous discoursed from Psal. 17, 15 /

The w•rd of grace is the seed of the new Creature. Through the exceeding great and precious promises, he makes souls partake of the divine nature. Grace is, firstly, revealed, to teach the denial of ungodliness, &c. Turn thy thoughts hither then, and consider, what is there done upon thy soul, by the Gospel, to attemper and conform it to God? wherein hath thy heart answered this its visible design; and intendment? Thou art but in a delirious dream till thou seriously bethinkest thy self of this. For, otherwise, how can the aversion of thy heart from him escape thy daily observation; thou canst not be without evidences of it; what ⟨p. 213⟩pleasure dost thou take in retiring thy self with God? what care to redeem time only for converse with him? hadst thou not rather be any where else? In a time of vacancy from business, and company; when thou hast so great a variety of things before thee, among which to choose an object for thy thoughts, do they not naturally fall upon any thing rather then God! Nor do thou think to shift off this, by assigning the mere natural cause; for if there were not somewhat more in the matter, why is it not so with all? He, upon whom this change had passed,¹ could say; My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; ²and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lip•, when I remember thee upon my bed, ³and meditate on thee in the night watches. My meditation of him shall be […]; I will be glad in the Lord. ⁴How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sunt of them? If I should count them, they are more in number then the sand; when I wake, I am still with thee. Yea, in the way of thy judgment, O God, have we waited for thee, the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my Soul have I desired thee in the night, yea with my spirit within me will I s•ck thee early, &c. Therefore, plain it is, there is a sinful distemper to be wrought out, an ungodly disposition of heart; which it concerns thee not to rest, till thou see removed.